Virtual School Tuition Based Program

The Virtual School Tuition-Based program was designed for students who want to recover lost credits or move ahead in their courses. Students have full access to their classes 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

How it works

The HISD Virtual School Department functions as a program that allows students to take courses online for original credit or credit recovery to fulfill credits towards high school graduation. Because the HISD Virtual School Department is not a stand-alone educational entity but a department within the Houston Independent School District, students who participate in the Virtual School Tuition-Based program are required to receive the appropriate approval from their campuses for the credits earned to be applied to their official transcript.

This unique program allows for any student from any district in any part of the world to complete courses online with the approval of their school guidance counselor.

Who can participate

The Virtual School Tuition-Based program is not limited to students in the Houston Independent School District. A student can participate and complete courses through our program as long as they meet the following requirements:

Receive counselor approval (signature)

Have access to a computer with an Internet connection

Pay tuition of $200.00 per 1/2 credit

Pay tuition of $250.00 per 1/2 credit for AP, plus the cost of textbooks

Discounts available for purchasing more than one course, and for children of HISD Employees

**We reserve the right to deny enrollment in a course through the Virtual School Department Tuition Based Program.**

We recommend that a student:

work well on his or her own

have good time management skills

have basic computer skills

can navigate the Internet responsibly

We desire to provide every student with the flexibility they need while completing rigorous courses online; however, we must emphasize the student’s responsibility to complete the course in a timely and efficient manner.

At the Virtual School Department, Course Participation is a combined behavior of logging in to the course on a regular basis, reviewing instructions, participating in discussion forum, and submitting assignments to be graded either by the system, such as automatically graded quizzes and tests, or by the teacher, such as practice, journals, discussions, and unit tests. Communication with the teacher, and seeking support from the teacher is also an essential part of Course Participation.